Background

When primary care agencies met to develop Service Coordination PPPS, the lack of feedback in the referral process was highlighted as a key problem and an area that practitioners wanted to be addressed in the development and implementation of Service Coordination.

Practitioners and Doctors alike said they wondered what had become of referrals they had made:

• Had the referrals been received and acted on?
• Had consumers been assessed?
• What services had been put in place?
• What outcomes had been achieved?

Addressing these issues was a key driver for the BATS Strategy and Service Coordination reforms.

Actions

The primary care agencies and the local Division of General Practice agreed that the development of Service Coordination PPPS would be an ideal opportunity to address this problem. Working together, practitioners:

• Developed a set of Referral PPPS which built feedback loops into the referral process. For example:
  • It was agreed that feedback will be provided within 3 working days of receipt of a referral.
  • Feedback on referrals will include the following information: date of receipt and acceptance, estimated date for assessment, reason for not proceeding (consumer not eligible or declines service).
• Scoped an e-referral system to support the referral process which incorporated automatic feedback.

Local PPPS set out an agreement on how Service Coordination will happen.

Outcomes

Referral within the catchment has feedback mechanisms built in and meets the objectives of Service Coordination. Practitioners and Doctors are better informed about the care of their consumers and are no longer left wondering what has become of their referrals.

Working together to develop the PPPS had the added benefit of strengthening working relationships, increasing awareness of the service system, and improving understanding of services, eligibility criteria and priority of access issues.